My Labor and Delivery Story

Hello all,

I wrote this post on 2/1/08 and for some reason never posted it. I was thinking about it again today since it marks the 1 year anniversary of when I went into labor, so I decided to post it now, 1 year later. Here goes.....

This could turn into a long drawn-out post, but I had been meaning to document the details of my labor and delivery mostly just so I don't forget. Might be a little boring for anyone else, but here goes...

All throughout my pregnancy I was told I'd probably go late because I was having a girl and it was my first (I was told this by other people, not my doctor). Since I was showing small for dates and still getting around pretty easily, wasn't having any false labor or Braxton-Hicks contractions and was only 1 cm dialated at my 12/21 appointment, I wasn't expecting to go into labor any time soon. On 12/23, Jeff and I were getting ready to do some last minute Christmas shopping. At around 5:45pm I felt something just sort of like cramping that I hadn't felt before. I told Jeff it was possible that I just had a contraction, but wasn't sure because I didn't know what one felt like. We headed out to the mall and 45 minutes later I felt another one. I wasn't too concerned. Then later I felt another one and asked Jeff was time it was. It was exactly 45 minutes later! Then around 8 pm we were back at home and they started happening more often, like every 15 minutes. We got out the books and were comparing the differences between real labor and false labor. Jeff kept asking me if I felt pain radiating from my back around to my front. I wasn't sure! We decided to call Mercy On-Call just to tell them what was happening to see if they thought it seemed like real labor. I remember breaking down while we were waiting for the doctor to call us back and telling Jeff I wasn't ready yet. When the doctor called back, she told me it did sound like false labor and just to lay down. I felt so relieved and tried to relax and go to bed. From 12-2 in the morning I continued to have contractions every 15 minutes and I think I somewhat slept in between them. From 2am on it started to get worse, it felt better if I walked around during the contractions and I was wondering how long false labor goes on. Shouldn't it have been over by then?! The contractions started getting closer together, but some weren't as intense as others, which was sign of false labor again. Finally around 5am Jeff decided to call up to Labor and Delivery at the hospital to get their opinion. The nurse there said it sounded like early labor and we'd better come in, but there was no need to rush. So Jeff and I panicked! The next day was Christmas Eve which Jeff had off and he was going to do a bunch of cleaning and other things around the house since we were having guests in the next few days. I was planning on working from home and had a few things I really wanted to get done. (As a side note, throughout the weekend I kept thinking about the couple of things at work I wanted to get done and thought, I really should log in and do them, just in case, but of course I never got around to it) So around 6am before heading to the hospital, Jeff was running around the house like a madman and I was trying to get some work done. Unable to completely think clearly I ended up having to email my co-worker Rich with details about what I was trying to do. I think I said something in the email about how I was going to the hospital, but I didn't think I was in labor. So, around 7am Jeff and I were heading to the hospital and I was having contractions about every 5 minutes and they were pretty painful!

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to a machine that monitors contractions. The nurse confirmed I was actually having contractions and the baby was coming that day! Jeff and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, I hadn't wanted to end up at the hospital if I wasn't actually in labor. (So, as another side note, I had been concerned throughout my pregnancy about how I would actually know if I was in labor and people told me "You'll know". but I didn't know!) I made it clear to the nurse I didn't want to feel anything, I wanted as many drugs as they could give and as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the doctors rotate on-call at 8 in the morning, so they were going to wait until the next doctor came on to page anyone and I had to see the doctor before I could be given anything. So, sometime after 8, the doctor came in and checked me out. She said it looked like I'd probably have the baby before noon and she would page the anesthesiologist so I could get my epidural. I couldn't wait! But I did, I had to wait and wait and wait. Jeff and I just sort of watched the monitors, he'd compare the number of the contraction (the higher the number the bigger the contraction) to the pained look on my face. I think he agreed they corresponded correctly. I made Jeff go bug the nurses about what was taking so long for the epidural - I was in pain! Turns out the roads were bad and the anesthesiologist lived a little ways out of town (outside Solon) and it was taking her a little while to get to the hospital. The nurse came in an gave me Nubain to relax me a little. I think it helped. Then the anesthesiologist got there and got my epidural going. She was very nice and it took a little while for it to take, but it did and when Jeff said "that was a big contraction - did you feel it?" and I didn't - I was pretty happy. The only uncomfortable part now was that my right leg was really bothering me because I couldn't feel it at all. It doesn't really make sense, but it seemed like it was asleep and I felt like I needed to wake it up, which I couldn't. I kept making Jeff reposition my leg because I couldn't feel it, but it was uncomfortable. I think around this time the nurses forced Jeff to go get something to eat, but otherwise, Jeff and I were basically just hanging out in the delivery room by ourselves. Unfortunately, the epidural slowed down my progress and so then I had to be given pitocin to speed it back up. At one point the doctors and nurses came running in. I didn't realize it but the baby's heartrate had fallen below 70. It happened when they turned me on my left side, so they rolled me back on to my right side and everything was okay again. When they tried later to roll me on to my left, the same thing happened.

At some point, I think around noon, the doctor came in and said "Ok, I think we are ready to push" This surprised me, it seemed pretty uneventful, I had sort of assumed I would know when it was time to push and we would have to run and get the doctor. Jeff and the nurses did a really good job of coaching me, because I couldn't feel anything, I felt like I wasn't really doing anything. For those who don't know, you wait for a contraction and then push 3 times. Then you take a break and wait for the next contraction. I mention this, because somehow I didn't know that was how it worked (and believe me, I read a lot of books). I don't think I was doing a very good job of pushing because they ended up have to suction Isabella out. At 1:05 pm, she was born and Jeff and I were elated! My labor and delivery was over and it had gone very very smoothly!